Chapter 2209: Chapter 2209 Stumbling Down the Halls

--- Kat ---

It was late in the afternoon and everyone was eating for real. They’d created a small, very temporary filter ward for one of the dorm rooms so that everyone could have lunch, but now that they’d finished the proper one... for at least the top floor anyway, it was time to eat. There was a nice spread laid out and Kat found herself with a bit of that quick drying plaster attached to her still. It was interesting to see something that didn’t just slide off her body... except not really. Instead, it managed to dry on parts of her kimono and simply hang over her skin in places. It brought back old memories of dirty work back at the orphanage.

Kat smiled as she bit down into some not-watermelon. It wasn’t all that tasty but it was nostalgic. Kat remembered the days she helped repaint the various orphanage rooms. Not all at once of course, but little kids weren’t kind to the furniture or the walls. Scratched, crayons and the occasional bit of other damage needed to be cleaned up over time and whenever someone moved out... well that tended to mean there was a free spot to shuffle things around.

Kat remembered those days when she had paint all over her body and stuck to some of her old raggedy clothes. They’d always been used for painting, and plenty of them weren’t originally hers either. Sometimes they were old outfits of Gramps with holes in them, other times they were simply from the piles of outfits donated to the orphanage. There was never a reason to wear good clothing while you were painting.

Lily was quite happy to have some real food. She’d been managing of course, and Kat had handed some over when they’d met up for that duel, but now Lily could just eat whatever she wanted. More than one person looked at Lily a bit oddly during her eating spree. She’d devoured at least three fish that Steel must have requested especially for her considering none of them were cooked. They were also, roughly the same size as Lily was and yet she’d eaten all three of them with no trouble.

Well. Almost no trouble. Lily was no lying spread out on one of the chairs that Kat had moved over to the corner and feeling a touch unwell. *So, I see you were taking lessons from Tanisha.*

[Kat, I didn’t realise just how hungry I was until we had some proper food on offer.]

*I’m not sure I consider fish ’proper food’ but alright.*

[Sushi is real food.]

*Yeah and that wasn’t sushi. It was a bunch of uncooked fish fillets on plates.*

[I regret nothing.]

Kat reached over slowly towards Lily’s stomach and was about to poke it when her girlfriend hissed. [Ok fine. I regret it a little bit... but I’d do it again. I don’t feel great but I’m not dying or anything. I’ve felt worse after eating that’s for sure.]

*I can tell you’re thinking of one of the few times you’ve had food poisoning.*

[Perhaps... but I did feel worse after all of that didn’t I?]

*Sigh. You know if you were hungry I could’ve come down and delivered something for you right?*

[Yeah but I genuinely wasn’t hungry. I was a bit thirsty but I just went and got some water when I was.]

*Strange. Why do you think that happened or... didn’t happen I guess? Or maybe did? I’m asking why you were only hungry when there was food available.*

[I’d guess it’s because I’m a feline. I don’t know how often a Memphis would normally eat, but most wild cats don’t eat daily. Well, maybe house cats do after they escape? But is that conditioned behaviour? Regardless, a lot of big cats only eat like twice a week.]

*Right but you’re not a big cat, or a small cat, you’re still kitten sized.*

[Yeah but I can kill a lot of things big cats can’t.]

*Point. So you think you’re body is designed to take in larger amounts of food in smaller amounts of time?*

[I don’t know. It’s hard to say how appropriate my instincts are. Remember, for all that neither of really think about it... this WAS an experimental procedure and Memphis are entirely a created creature. They aren’t naturally evolved cats.]

*Oh... yeah that’s a good point. Do you think perhaps you shouldn’t have eaten so much then? Like... from a safety standpoint. You are kind of tiny and that was a lot of food.*

[I think from a safety perspective I’m fine. I’m not sure what felines Memphis are based on but I suspect our size and instincts are fairly accurate. While I’m full and it’s not the most comfortable experience, I can just lay around for a while and I’m sure I’ll be fine. I definitely ate more than should be possible so something weird is going on.]

*Hmmm... we can keep an eye on it.*

Once the meal was finished, Appoline came over, and looked at Kat and Lily with big, pleading eyes. Appoline could manage to look cute pretty well despite her age. Mostly due to her long elven ears that wiggled when you tried to look away from her face, pulling your attention back. Kat glanced at Lily. [I can stay here and rest. I don’t exactly feel like moving yet but if I had to fight I’m sure I could.]

*Alright if you’re sure.* "Alright Appoline, we can go to the greenhouse," sighed Kat.

"Yes!" cheered Appoline like a small child that had just been told she was allowed to buy ice cream on the way home. Kat just rolled her eyes and started to get moving. With just the two of them they were able to run quite fast, and Appoline downed some potion that let her run even faster, to the point Kat found she was the slower one. Bracelet included of course, but it was still impressive to see Appoline blur down the corridor.

Apparently though, despite the fact it let you run faster it didn’t help with the energy needed to do the running. When Kat got to the turnoff to the greenhouse she found Appoline leaning against the wall panting hard. "Ha, ha, ha. Needs more testing..."

"Why did you even use it then?" asked Kat.

Appoline stood up to answer only for her legs to wobble and start to topple her over. Kat reached out to steady the elf for a few moments before Appoline nodded and Kat let go. She started to wobble again, but Appoline quickly made her way back to wall. "It needed to be tested. I was sure that it was safe... and it was. Technically. The potion itself arguably wasn’t the problem."

"And arguably, I’d be willing to put money down on the fact that other people have noticed and solved this problem before," countered Kat.

"Well, yes, but you didn’t have to bring that part up. I was trying to develop a new speed potion, obviously, and one that was much cheaper. I managed that part... but I’m not sure anyone can use it all that safely below Rank 2... hmm... I could fix that issue of course but at that point it’s a different potion. I wonder how many would buy it as is? Or a weaker version for weaker people?" pondered Appoline.

Kat shrugged, "How should I know? For me it probably wouldn’t even have too many side effects because of my regeneration. I can hold my breath for ages as well. Assuming it even works on me... it might just be fine as is. No drawbacks,"

"Oh, hmm... I wonder how many demon clients I can get?" pondered Appoline.

"I’d suggest summoning a Greed demon or some other mercantile demon for that sort of thing. I barely know what things cost in my home dimension, let alone here or in the Hub. I really couldn’t say if it would be profitable. Maybe if they were willing to leave a beacon and set the price at something low? I don’t really know how trading would work in this case," explained Kat.

"I’ll keep it in mind. Now onwards!" Appoline decreed.

Kat raised an eyebrow as Appoline pushed herself away from the wall and started to stumble towards the greenhouse. For all that she might want to be up and about exploring the greenhouse she really didn’t seem to be ready for that just yet. Still, Kat decided to simply be quiet about it. Though she did carefully move her tail until it was directly behind Appoline. It meant if the elf started to stumble Kat could catch her swiftly... and if that tail also happened to help keep Appoline on her feet where it was pressed against her back? Well that was just a coincidence. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

[Lewd.]

*What?*

[Pressing your long, thick tail against her back while she stumbles around struggling to walk.]

*I feel like whatever joke you’re trying to make here is lost on me.*

[I... yeah I’m not surprised. I also don’t think I want to explain it to you either now that I’m thinking about it.]